Jesus Christ is a great window into understanding the Being we call the Father. These two Beings form the God family and They are so identical that They are referred to as “the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” In John 1 this is reinforced for us: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18).
The message revealing God the Father originated with Jesus Christ and He had authority to rehearse or unfold who the Father is and what He is doing which is known as “the Work of God” (John 14:7,9). Central to our identity as Christians is “doing the Work”: “Then they said to [Christ], ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’ “ (John 6:28-29). Christ continues in John 6 to give details on what it means to “believe in Him” (John 6:44-45,57). You get the sense of an expanding God family. And there is no separation between the work of the Father and the work of Jesus Christ. However, their Work has separate components all having the same common purpose.
- The Work of God which Emphasizes the Father
What Is the Work that the Father is doing? Psalms 104: 24-31 speaks to the creation of the heavens and the earth ending with this statement: “May the glory of the Lord endure forever; May the Lord rejoice in His works.”
Job expands a bit further the concept of work: “He alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea; He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,” (Job 9:8-9). God’s work focuses on the earth and human life (Proverbs 8:1,22-31). Proverbs 8 moves from eternity to the creation of this earth and of mankind. All of this is the work that we can assign to the Father.
Our living environment is the result of God’s work which has a very clear purpose. We are given interesting pieces of information about that purpose from Job. One statement references the resurrection of a human being, dying and being resurrected (Job 14:14-15). So God’s purpose is to create a family and the work that He has done sets up the environment for that process to take place. The physical heavens, the earth, and the human beings on the earth are all part of God’s work. But He has not completed His work: “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65.17).
God’s work focuses on the development of an eternal family, and the creation an of an eternal environment, the new heavens and new earth, for His family. It’s a deeply spiritual work that the Father is doing. He is creating a physical environment initially for humans to live in, but the whole purpose behind God’s work is to create sons and daughters for His eternal family.
- The Work of Man
God intended for man’s work to point to the work of God. As man works in his environment he would become mindful that behind their environment is a Creator. Man was to have dominion over God’s work of creation, to tend and keep the Garden of Eden. But the Garden of Eden was a type. Man was to continue his work as the population grew. They were to spread the Garden-like environment around the entire earth. And it was God’s intention that man would work for mankind’s good (Ecclesiastes 3:9,12-13).
By working with the creation, mankind would have a clearer picture of the Creator: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,” (Romans 1:20). Today Man doesn’t understand that if they move away from God in any way, shape or form, they are without excuse. Mankind fails to see the validity of Scripture: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16).
Fortunately, the work that man is to do becomes spiritual when God calls someone. His calling opens the mind and gives them the addition of the Holy Spirit so that the scripture comes alive. It can be understood and applied. However, this is the work of God and our work is now a part of the spiritual realm: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
- The Work of Christ
You can’t separate the work of God the Father from the work of Christ. However, you can see aspects of Christ’s work that stand out and are important. The work of Christ involves the creation of all things: “But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working” (John 5:17). But a lot of the Son’s work was to create the heavens and the earth, however, it was at the behest of the Father who is working in the design and participating with Christ to create all of these things (Ephesians 3.9; John 14:10-11).
There’s a very clear connection between Christ and the Father. And when the Father draws someone to Christ, they become a part of the process of the work that is being done.
And a very important part of the work that Christ is doing is that of reconciliation. It’s a reconciliation not just of us as individuals. It’s also a reconciliation of all of the creation that Christ did after Satan rebelled. Christ is working to reconcile the heavens, the earth, the whole universe and then mankind specifically to the Father, “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2: 4-6,10-11,14-18).
We are created in Christ Jesus for good works, that we should walk in them now. He can truly say, “The Father works and I work.” And it’s an extension from one to the other. There’s nothing we, as humans, can do to be a new creation. It’s the work of Christ within a human individual. In 2 Corinthians 5, there is a strong statement of a powerful work that Christ is doing:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the [service] of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17–19).
So, Christ’s main work is living His life within us. We are a new creation. Even the desire to change comes from Christ living within us. However, there are things we are required to do once it is revealed to us: fear God and keep His commandments. But we don’t do this. It is Christ living within us as we allow Him. It’s a part of His work (Colossians 3:1-17).
- The Work of the Church
The work of God involves the work of man and the work of Christ and all connect together into one thing, the Church: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:16–18).
As we move closer to the time of the end, it’s logical that the Church is going to become a very important part of God’s work. All the work of God has a focus on the development of an eternal family of God. This is God’s purpose for humanity. He is developing a community of godly-minded people who think like He and Jesus Christ think, and who act like He and Jesus Christ act. Our nationality does not matter. A Christian’s citizenship is in heaven. We were called to come to a point of representing the family of God, the Kingdom of God.
“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22).
And we can do that with the Spirit of God dwelling in us. We are not eternal. The body is still physical but we can be very clear representatives of God’s Kingdom living by the laws, the values and standards that God gave for us. That work that Christ is doing within us allows us to be representatives of God’s Kingdom family. That’s the work of the Church. That temple, the church, is under construction and God dwells in that temple on this earth at this time.
The Church is the spiritual body of Christ, not a secular or worldly organization, club or institution. It is the work of the Church, as the spiritual mother of Christians in it, to develop holy, righteous and perfect godly character in those God has called, those God has added to the Church.
However, all the Churches of God have had problems and major difficulties similar to the Church in Corinth. Paul was deeply concern for the members. He brings them all together by describing what the basis for a godly community is, a family (1 Corinthians 3:1-4, 5-11, 21-23).
At the end of the letter Paul defined the kind of behavior that correctly represents God’s community by always abounding in the work of the Lord. They were to be steadfast in the work of the Lord. They were to work together, to contribute by their personal work which would become a collective work (1 Corinthians 15:58; 2 Corinthians 13.11-14). The Spirit of God is not a divided Spirit. It’s one Spirit. And if I am drinking deeply from God’s Holy Spirit and you are drinking deeply from God’s Holy Spirit we are going to be one. That’s the nature of God’s Spirit.
The oneness of the body is an aspect of preaching the gospel. The function of the body is to be a witness of God’s Kingdom to this world. It’s a function of preaching. The personal work of each of us becomes the collective work of the Church. And it is an absolute work of faith. We take what is written in the word of God, and apply its spiritual intent (1 Thessalonians 1:3-10). Paul notes that the Thessalonians became an example of a living community to all who believed.
The Church should be something that stands out in this ungodly evil worldly environment. If we are divided like the Corinthians were, then we represent the world rather than God’s community. This should not be: (Titus 2:11-14). If our personal identity is as a citizen of God’s Kingdom we will see the importance of the work of God both individually and collectively.
A very powerful conclusion to the work of God is found in Ephesians 4:
“ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of [service], for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:11–16).
Speaking the truth in love is a powerful witness, a powerful statement. This world doesn’t know the truth. The world is not operating by truth. It rejects truth. Here we come along living it, believing it. Speaking the truth in love is a work of faith
The Church’s work is your work. Each of those called by God are a vital part of the work that God is doing at this time.
Brian Orchard